Line finder for toll biller



March a, 1956' R. D. DODGE E TAL 2,737,280

LINE FINDER FOR TOLL BILLER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 9, 1953 INVENTORS LEON E. PALPER RONALD DDODGE JTIORNEY 1956 R. n. DODGE EI'AL LINE FINDE FQR 2 Sheets-Sheet 2:

Filed April 9', h 1953 United States Patent LINE FINDER FOR TOLL BILLER RonaldD. Dodge, Poughkeepsie, and. Leon E.-Pal rner, Wappingers: Falls, N. Y., assignors-lto International Business Machines Corporation; New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application :April :9, 1953, Serial No; 347 ,7 83;?

ZChiiins. (Cl; 197-'-133)f This..invention.re1ates. generally to. typewriters,- and mor'e.::particularly, to. a structure forautomatically and adiustably controlling the lengthnofatyping field.

In order to explain the operatingprinciples of .'this.--invention, reference .ismade. to a toll billing typewriter whitihis. one.of that class used for printing charges. on conventional, long-distance telephone toll bills. v

Toll. bi1ls;.are normally supplied in. continuousv strip form;.with..perforations separating onebill from. a succeeding oneu The. supply of blankbills ismaintained usually-asa stack. of folded sheets located "behindthe typewrit'enso. that the-typist need no worry about. insertingethe ,blank. bill forms,.but need simply copy .informa tionontothe tollbills.

Unfortunately, the typist. occasionally may forget and Xceedthelength of writing space ortypingfieldialloe catedtonthe blank bills. To prevent this, andto-simplify the. typing .of' toll bills, it isan .object of this: inventionto providetan improved structure .for aligninga toll bill so that its first imprint line will automatically.bepositioned fortyping.

It..is. a. further.- object of this invention to provide a structureeforsignalling the typist that she has completed the-last' line ofimprint or end of typing field of a toll bill.

Ita-isastill further object of this invention toprovide an. improved .mechanism forlocking the keysof a.typewriter after .thelast line-of a predetermined fild has-been printed.

Itxis .aistill further object of this invention to-provide atstructure which simultaneously controls the positioning Ofaaiollwbill for .the' first line of imprint, and which facilitates the tearing of one bill from a strip.

Other objectsaoftthe invention willbepointedout in the:followingdescription and claims and: illustratedin the.accompanying. drawings, which disclose, byway-of examplmthe principle of the invention and-thebest mode, whichhaszbeen contemplated, of applying that principle.

Bricfly,-.- this. invention relates to an. improved-.ltype witenastructurewherein a pair of parallel rings; are mountedaonaone'end of: a'typewriter platen and coaxiallyythereof; each ring havingadetentatherein for conditioning mechanisms that control-respectively, the limitation of manual rotation of the platen and the locking of the'typewriter keyboard.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a front view, partly in section, showing a typewriter carriageand platen mechanism:

Fig, 2 isca sectional. view. takenithrough. the plane. of=Figa=1 in=the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of a standard toll bill.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken through the plane 44 of Fig. l, in the direction of the arrows.

Referring to the drawings, a typewriter carriage 1 is shown mounted for axial movement in a pair of guide rails 2 which, in turn, are supported by the typewriter base (not shown). A platen 3 is mounted for rotation in a pair of side supports 4 which are rigidly secured to ice the.carriage 1; The platen has a ratchet wheel. 5 which cooperates with" a lin'e spacing, mechanism, hereinafter described, to control the feeding .of, a work sheet past a printing line. A pair of parallelfrings-fi and 7 are secured to and rotatable with ratchet wheel .Sand they condition, respectively, as will 'be hereinafter described, the positiming of a toll bill'fo'r the first line of printing, and the locking of the typewriter keyboard after the last-line of printing.

In Fig. 3; a conventional f'toll bill 8'is. shown. The bill has a length equal .to the periphery of the. platena, and the billv has a typing field 'extendihgfr'om thelinemarked start to'the line marked 'stop. To condition the-typewriter so that the predetermined. typing field -is readily ascertainable, ring Gisprovidedwitli .adetent. or notch 9which is positioned to. alignthetoll.billfor-thefirst line of "imprint or.start line, while -ring ,7 isprovided with a detent .10 which efiicts the locking of the keyboard when the last orv stop line reaches. printing position.

In order to explain theoperationof .th'eringsfi, 7 and their notches or .detents.9, .10, respectively, reference is made to Figs. 1 and2-of the drawingswherein. a: pawl or, dog llis shown pivotally mounted on theaside support 4 ofthe carriage l'in alignment with. ring ,6, while a rocker arm 15 is shown: pivotallymountedon theside support 4 in. alignment with..ring.,7. The -latter has a free end 16 engageable with detent10.

In the position-shown, the nose -12"of dog-:11 is abutting a wall' 13of notch Q th ereby limiting the manual clockwise; rotation (Fig.2) of ring-6. Ring 6; however, isrigidly connected. by any. suitable meanslnot shown with. ratchet wheel 5 and both members .are provided with aninternal gear portion 17 driven by a gear 18- splined, as. by-pin19, to a shaft .20. Bygpressing. ona clutch button 21.at the outerend of the shaft,-the:latteris moved axially in: opposition. to a spring-22- for disengaging: the gear.18 from the internal gear 17. Platenxlaand the shaft 20 thencan be-rotated relative to both .thering- G and ratchet wheel5 to vary the position of the work sheet and hence the positibnzofthe :start" line-of-ltoll-bil1 8 relative to detent 9. Upon release-of the buttonZl, gear 18 again engages .gear.17 fordirect drive,-,andsince the platenhas a. circumference equalto-the length of the toll bill, all succeeding toll .billsv Will'be positioned-for typing .on the star-t?- line-when dog.,11engages notch '9.

While the 1 structure of dog- .11 and detent 9 prevents manual rotation of the platen, the: dog isv lifted upon returningthe carriage "to start a'new lineand-theplatenis free at that. time for. a-line-spacing operation:

Inorder .to describe this action, however, reference is made to the specific operation of the carriage-:returm and line spacing mechanisms. explained in :detail .in United States .Patent 1,957,322to C.. W. Crumrine. As shown in this patent, amechanismis provided for exertinga-pull on a tape 23 '(Fig. 1) foreifecting a return of the carriage to itsstarting: position.v The tape 23 is :connected to a bellcrank-24 mounted ona stud 25 supportedby the carriage. A rockingofthe .-bellcrank-.by:a pull on the tape causes an arm 26. of@1the bellcrankto exert a vertically downward pull on a pin. 27, which in. tur n pulls down. bracket-28 :'(Fig.--; 4-) Thern'otionfiof the latter is guided by the interaction of 1pins- 29with elongated slots 30,:and, as described in the :aforementioned -Us-S. patent, the downward motion of bracket 28 causes a pawl 31 to be cammed outwardly into engagement with the teeth of ratchet wheel 5 to rotate the same one, two or three line spaces in a manner well understood in the typewriter art.

The rocking of bellcrank arm 24 by the tension of tape 23 is also used to release pawl 11 from detent 9.

of crank arm 26 to pawl 11. In Fig. 2, link 32 is shown' connected to the tail 34 of dog 11 by means of a pin 35 engaging an elongated slot 36. Rotation of arm 26 exerts a downward pull on link 32 to pivot dog 11 about its supporting stud 37 and thereby lift nose 12 out of notch 9. Since the line spacing operation above described takes place with the rotation of arm 26, detent 9 will be rotated out from under nose 12 and the latter will ride on the periphery of ring 6 for a revolution until detent 9 is again in alignment with nose 12.

It will be noted that since the toll bills are in strip form separated by transverse perforations, a longitudinal pull on a bill 8 will result in a tearing along the perforated, separating line when the manual rotation of platen 3 is suddenly halted by the action of pawl 11 falling into detent 9.

It should be noted too that because of the elongated slot 36, successive operation of the line spacing mechanism will not be impaired by pawl 11. The elongated slot permits pin 35 to ride upwardly so that link 32 and arm 26 can return to their rest position shown in Fig. 1 after each line spacing operation.

It has been mentioned that the interaction of rocker arm 15 and detent brings about a locking of the typewriter keyboard after the bill stop line has been typed. This locking is effected in the following manner.

After pawl 11 has been raised out of detent 9, successive movements of the carriage to starting position after each line is typed, causes a line spacing operation and advancement of the work sheet. Simultaneously, ring 7 (which is shown in Fig. l as being concentric with and locked to ring 6 by means of set screw 39) is rotated with the platen.

Through this operation, detent 10 eventually rotates into engagement with the free end of the rocker arm 15. The latter is spring biased into engagement with the periphery of ring 7 to enter detent 10 when it is in position. Specifically, arm is pivotally mounted on pin 38 supported by side bracket 4. A second arm 40, integral with arm 15 has a pin 43 supporting a bar 44 which, in turn, is connected to a pin 45 in an arm 46. Arm 46 is mounted for rotation about a stud 47 and it is held biased counterclockwise (Fig. 2) by means of a spring 48 which interconnects the upper end of arm 46 with a bracket 49. Spring 48 produces a tension on bar 44 which, through pin 43, tends to rotate rocker arm 15 about its pivot 38 so that its free end is pressed against the peripheral surface of ring 7. Accordingly, when notch 10 overlies the free end, the latter will be forced by spring 48 into the notch 10. When this occurs, arm 46 is released for slightly further counterclockwise rotation about stud 47, whereupon its outer end 49 rotates a bail 50 which is pivotally positioned by means of a pair of pins 51 held by the brackets 4. Clockwise rotation of the bail 50 efifects the rotation of the rocker arm 52 about its pivot pin 53, whereupon a rod 54, connected to the outer end of arm 52, is pushed forward, causing the keyboard lock bar 55 to be rotated counterclockwise about pivot 56 and in opposition to the spring 57 until its nose 58 is under the hook 59 in each of the key bars 60. Specifically, the lock bar extends transversely across all the key bars 60, and therefore, it locks all of them-including carriage return to prevent operation of the typewriter while the rocker arm 15 is in the detent 10.

The detent 10 is of such a peripheral length, however, that it effects the locking of the keyboard for only one line of typing. This signals the operator that she has come to the end of the allocated typing field on the toll bill, and she must then rotate the platen by hand or pull on the toll bill to rotate the platen and thus cam the rocker arm 15 out of the detent 10. As soon as the platen has been rotated manually one line, the keyboard is released and the typist can imprint the bill totals, if she so desires.

An incidental advantage of the construction of ring 7 lies in the simplicity of its adjustment. That is, by releasing set screw 39, ring 7 can be rotated relative to ring 6 and consequently the position of the stopl line can be controlled to agree with the type bill form that is used.

While there have been shown and described and pointed out the fundamental novel features of the invention as applied to a preferred embodiment, it will be understood that various omissions and substitutions and changes in the form and details of the device illustrated and in its operation may be made by those skilled in the artw itlr out departing from the spirit of the invention. It is the intention, therefore, to be limited only as indicated by the scope of the following claims. I What is claimed is: I

1. In combination with a typewriter having a carriage, a platen, printing means, and line spacing mechanism, a start control mounted on said carriage for interrupting the manual rotation of said platen comprising a start ring having a notch therein, means mounting said ring on said platen for coaxial rotation therewith, and releasable means mounted on said carriage for engaging said notch tov prevent rotation of said platen after every revolution thereof until said releasable means has been lifted out of said notch, said releasable means comprising a pawl pivotally mounted on said carriage, spring means biasing the nose of said pawl into peripheral contact with said start ring, and a linkage interconnecting said line spacing mechanism with said pawl to lift the'sarne out of engagement with said start ring notch upon operation of said line spacing mechanism. j

2. In combination with a typewriter having a carriage, a platen, key actuated printing means, and a line spacing mechanism, a start control for limiting the manual ro tation of said platen and a stop control for locking said key actuated printing means, said start control comprising a start ring having a peripheral notch therein, means mounting the same on said platen for coaxial rotation therewith, a cooperating pawl mounted on said carriage for engagement with said start ring notch in one position of rotation of said platen thereby to limit the manual rotation thereof, said start control further including means conditioned by the operation of said line spacing mechanism to lift said pawl from said start ring notch to re: lease said platen for manual rotation, said stop control comprising a stop ring having a peripheral notch therein, means mounting the same on said platen for coaxial r0 tation therewith, a rocker arm mounted on said carriage References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS s2s,s99- Forkarth July 17,1906 1,053,922

Merritt Dec. 19, 1893 Neidig Feb. 18, 1913, 

